[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gemini.jpg]][[caption-width-right:320:Turn invisible now. [[FashionDissonance Please.]]]]->''"Special Federal Agent Sam Casey was assigned to Operation Royce Explorer, to retrieve an unidentified satellite from the ocean floor. During the course of the salvage operation, the submerged satellite exploded. The radiation from the blast left Casey alive but invisible. The [[LawEnforcementInc Intersect]] Radiation Lab fitted him with a 'DNA Stabilizer'. This enables Casey to both become invisible and to materialize. The complete details are Top Secret: File #487384."''-->-- '''OpeningNarration to ''''''''Riding With Death'''''

''Gemini Man'', based VERY loosely on Creator/HGWells' ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', was a [[LiveActionTV TV series]] from 1976 produced by [[StarTrek Harve Bennett]] and StevenBochco‎ which followed the adventures of government operative Sam Casey, who worked for a CIA-like agency known as INTERSECT. After a radiation accident in the first episode, he was rendered invisible, but was supplied with a watch-style device called a "DNA Stabilizer" that allowed him to control the invisibility - with the catch that he could only stay invisible for 15 minutes per day or else he'd die. The series was canceled after only five episodes of the original 11 had even aired.

Most mid-70s action series with a lifespan that short would quickly fade into obscurity. However, a [[CompilationMovie TV movie compiled from two episodes of the show]] entitled ''Riding with Death'' was released five years later and continued to run on television for many years. The episodes used were series premiere "Smithereens" along with "Buffalo Bill Rides Again", the latter of which didnít air in the US network run, and are linked via the common themes of vehicles MadeOfExplodium and country singer Jim Stafford. The movie itself was featured on a 1997 episode of ''MysteryScienceTheater3000,'' introducing it to another generation and ensuring it maintained its notoriety.

For the ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' version of ''Riding With Death'', please go to the [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E14RidingWithDeath episode recap page]].

Not to be confused with the VideoGame/MegaMan3 Robot Master.

----!!The show made use of many tropes [[ActionAdventureTropes common among action/adventure fare]] of the era, among them:

* AdventureTowns: We don't remember their names, and neither will you.* AppliedPhlebotinum: the DNA Stabilizer, an LCD wristwatch Casey uses to become visible again.* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Apparently people have an invisibility gene. Who knew?** ''Riding With Death'' would have us believe men could grow extremely bushy mustaches in a ''month''.* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The show states that Sam has ''thirteen hours'' to get to Long Beach, California. Establishing shots would place INTERSECT headquarters in Torrance, California. They're twenty minutes apart in good traffic, and even in the worst California highway traffic, it might take him an hour. However, later in the episode (first half of the movie), Doctor Hale mentions they're passing through Cedarville. Cedarville, California is in ''Northern'' California. Granted, there is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it line establishing that they have to go out of their way to pick up some extra equipment in another town, but even so it still doesn't make sense, since Cedarville is 11 hours from Long Beach...* BaldOfEvil: Dr. Hale, the patent-paper wielding villain.* BlessedWithSuck: If Casey stays invisible too long, he dies or [[PowerIncontinence gets stuck that way]]. He can monitor how long he's been invisible with a display on top of his DNA stabilizer. [[OhCrap The stabilizer turns invisible, too...]]* CompilationMovie: A clumsily-done example, to be sure. You'd think having an invisible character would make ADR dirt simple, but noooooooooooo.** What makes it hysterical is that Casey claims that Driscoll grew a thick, bushy mustache ''[[YouFailBiologyForever in a single month]]''!** At the end of the first half of the movie, after Casey turns invisible in a purportedly comedic moment, Driscoll has a poorly and obviously dubbed in line, "You're more elusive than Robert Denby!" This serves as a link to the villain of Part Two. ** Abby has absolutely no purpose in the second half of the...er, film, but to forge some sort of link to the first half we occasionally see her watching the action on a monitor, mumbling some pablum.** Buffalo keeps telling Sam about his racing plans in Ontario in ADR.* CrystalClearPicture: The monitor Abby uses to...monitor Casey in the second half of the movie has a better resolution than the rest of the film.* CutLexLuthorACheck: Dr. Hale's supposed gasoline additive is actually a explosive three times more powerful than Nitroglycerin and can be made from common chemicals. He concocts an elaborate scheme to defraud the government rather than just selling his new, cheap, explosive that is vastly more powerful than Nitroglycerin. Of course, this makes perfect sense when you inevitably realize as the movie goes on that Dr. Hale is kind of an idiot.* DistressedDamsel: Abby in the first half of the movie.* DrivesLikeCrazy: Averted for the most part. Casey sensibly drives the speed limit even before he learns about the explosive properties of his cargo. He's a bit of a spaz behind the wheel of a racecar, though.* FashionDissonance: Bell-bottoms and seventies hair abound, but Casey wears a jacket so bad it's a good thing he can turn invisible.* FemmeFatale: Cupcake, believe it or not.* FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin: Averted in the ''Riding With Death'' version. The first half of the "movie" used a clip from the pilot episode to establish the origin of Sam Casey's powers and made no attempt to cover up the fact that Driscoll was being played by another actor in those scenes.** Even more perplexing, Richard Dysart gets higher billing than William Sylvester in the opening credits.* FormFittingWardrobe: Abby and Casey.* FramedForHeroism: Casey often uses his invisibility to help others accomplish certain tasks or feats. Like helping Buffalo Bill win a bar fight using a huge whiffing air-punch that would make a [[ProfessionalWrestling pro wrestler]] roll his eyes in disgust.* ILoveNuclearPower: It makes me invisible and stuff! Sadly, since the series was canceled, we'll probably never see a continuation titled ''The Invisible Cancer Patient''.* AnInsert: When making ''Riding With Death'', they needed something to tie the two episodes together -- so they overdubbed some dialogue in both episodes to tie them together, added some footage they had of [[HotScientist Reasonably Okay-Looking Scientist]] Abby watching a viewscreen which featured the events of the second episode. Occasionally Footage-Abby would chime in with overdubbed dialogue, quite possibly taken from yet a ''third'' (fourth?) episode.--> '''Footage-Abby:''' Go get 'em, Sam! Give it the old college try!** There's also a flashback during the first half of the movie that is actually a clip from the pilot episode. The flashback has no relevance within the actual plot other than to clumsily shoehorn exposition regarding the origins of Sam Casey's powers.* InformedAttribute: Even though Tripolodine is allegedly much more powerful than nitroglycerin and capable of "blowing the whole town to smithereens," the explosion from the semi carrying it could only "maybe singe the side of a bed n' breakfast." Casey himself allegedly graduated from Harvard...* InspectorJavert: Whiny Scientist Guy thinks Leonard Driscoll is one of these, because of his devotion to busting (The Elusive) Robert Denby. [[spoiler:He's wrong.]]** Driscoll thinks of himself as Literature/SherlockHolmes and Denby as Moriarty, and states Holmes always got his man. [[spoiler: But apparently Driscoll never read any of those books since Holmes never tried and convicted Moriarty. Rather, they perished together in a fall.]]* InspiredBy: Creator/HGWells ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan''. Very, very, ''very'' loosely.* {{Invisibility}}: But remember, if Casey spends more than fifteen minutes invisible, he stays that way [[PowerIncontinence FOREVER]]! Or dies. Sources conflict. Maybe he dies and nobody can find the body.* JiveTurkey: Casey.* LargeHam: Driscoll.** Jim Stafford is ''made'' of ham.* LawEnforcementInc: Intersect* LiveActionEscortMission: Though the treacherous Dr. Hale is ''trying'' to be TheLoad and get Casey killed.* LostEpisode: Six episodes were filmed but never aired in the United States, though one of them was cut into the TV movie version.* LyingToThePerp: Casey does this to determine whether Dr. Hale is really inside his truck or not.-->'''Casey:''' Sorry about that ''last bump'', Doctor.-->'''Abby:''' What bump?* MadeOfExplodium: Tripolodine, mere drops of which form an explosive violent enough to knock papers off of a desk. The riffers at {{MST3K}} question the InformedAttribute of tripolodine, stating they weren't sure that would have taken out the ''whole town''. Maybe singe the side of a bed-and-breakfast inn.* MagicalSecurityCam: So in ''Riding with Death'' Abby's watching [[strike:the second episode]] the second half on the movie on a monitor that can apparently follow Casey or other random characters around, pick up important aspects of the story, switch angles, and film inside buildings and race cars. Are there invisible camera fairies flitting about? [[ParanoiaFuel Are they watching you? Right now?]]* MagicBrakes: Actually averted. Though the sinister mechanic Carl sabotages the brakes of the semi, the movie acknowledges this isn't a huge problem. The huge problem would be the series of vicious switchbacks and hairpin curves Casey is bearing down on at high-speed.* MisappliedPhlebotinum: Sure it doesn't boost mileage, but what military wouldn't want such a potent explosive?* MissingEpisode: The show got fewer than half of its completed episodes on the air. The CompilationMovie partially justified itself by using one of the missing episodes for the second half. The linking factor was that both episodes featured guest shots by country/novelty musician Jim Stafford, as well as being about dangerous vehicles (hence the movie's title).* NeutralFemale: Abby. But she's some gal!* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Cupcake had succeeded in convincing Buffalo Bill that Sam was out to betray him when Denby's men jumped Sam. This caused Bill to believe that someone really was out to wreck the Baxter Special, and Bill's jumping into the fight gave Sam enough trust in Bill to confide in him that he was really a secret agent. * NitroExpress: The premiere features the hero driving a semi across the country to deliver a fuel additive, along with its creator. Halfway through, it is revealed the creator is pulling a Face Heel Turn: After finding that Tripoline inevitably breaks down into an unstable explosive, he decides to embezzle ten million dollars from his research firm and then use the substance to fake his own death when some random pothole the truck runs over sets off the bottle.* NoNewFashionsInTheFuture: Set in the '80s, it is ''painfully'' obvious the wardrobe is from the '70s.* TheOtherDarrin: Richard Dysart played Casey's superior Driscoll in the show's pilot, but was replaced by William Sylvester in the actual series. The ''Riding with Death'' version uses footage from the pilot in one flashback which had Dysart as Driscoll.* OutdatedOutfit: Even by the terms of the 70s, Casey's hideous jacket was dated.* PluckyComicRelief: Buffalo Bill. Like most comic relief, he will make you wince every time he opens his mouth.* PullTheThread: At one point Sam calls Dr. Hale to apologize for a bump in the road that didn't actually happen. When Hale plays along and acts like it did, it reveals that he's not in the truck at all.* PutOnABus: Abby's character was dumped mid-series. ''Riding With Death'' clumsily deals with that.* RecycledScript: One of the original five broadcast episodes shared a script about a look-alike infiltrator with ''Series/TheBionicWoman''.* RedScare: Turns out Denby had his bomb-car outfitted in [[CommieLand East Germany]].* RummageSaleRejects: Gaze upon the page pic and despair!* TheSeventies: ''And how''. In fact, it was in 1976 when truckers and CB radios were a popular fad, with C.W. [=McCoy=]'s "Convoy" being a #1 hit, and the kid's board game "10-4 Good Buddy" released as well.* SpringtimeForHitler: The inventor of the faulty fuel additive in ''Riding With Death'' planned to fake his own death while Casey was driving the truck he was hidden in.* StockFootage: The part of Intersect's mainframe will be played by "Guardian" from ''Film/ColossusTheForbinProject''. ** "I'm running a film now of a previous pilot ejection."** ''Riding with Death'' features spliced-in footage from the pilot in order to show Casey's origin story.* {{Superhero}}: Casey, theoretically anyway.* SyndicationTitle: The only themes tying the two episodes together were vehicles, deadly explosions, and an annoying country musician, and apparently "Riding With Death While Yodeling" tested poorly.* ThisCannotBe: "This can't '''BE?!''' You're '''''DEAD?!'''''"* TraitorShot: Of Karl the mechanic after we see the brakes on Casey's truck cut.* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: ''Gemini Man'' was set in the far-flung future of [[TheEighties 1983]], but it's hard to tell considering how much the show's atmosphere conjures up [[TheSeventies the era when it was made]]. * VisibleInvisibility: Casey's awfully clumsy when he's invisible...* WordSaladTitle: "Gemini" ostensibly refers to the 'dual' nature of the hero (as ''visible'' and ''invisible''), but that's rreeeeeaaaaalllllyy stretching the definition of the word.----